ISRAEL banned Jewish worshippers from Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound yesterday after Jordan condemned raids on the site it administers.

Israeli security forces used rubber bullets, teargas and truncheons against Palestinians protesting against incursions on Islam’s third-holiest site on Sunday and Monday.

Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs Muhammad Momani called on Israel to immediately halt what he called unjustified violations.

Jordan runs the Waqf religious trust, which administers the site in the occupied territories of Palestine. The compound encompasses the Temple Mount, revered by Jews. 

Islamic officials accused Israeli authorities of breaking a tacit agreement on non-Muslim access to the site during the last 10 days of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. 

Mr Momani called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its actions and see that it honours its responsibilities as an occupying power.

Yesterday Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld claimed that protesters threw stones and other objects at police officers and Jewish worshippers in a nearby plaza.

Police arrested 16 people after an elderly woman was slightly injured.

Mr Rosenfeld said that the site would be closed to Jews until the end of the week when Ramadan draws to a close.

Statements by Israeli government ministers calling for Jews to be allowed to worship at the mosque helped spark last year’s outbreak of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks against Israeli settlers and occupation forces.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minster Riyad al-Maliki welcomed Monday’s normalisation of relations between Israel and Turkey but cautioned that Palestinians must be involved in negotiations that affect them.

The Hamas movement also hailed the agreement, which will see aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip.